THE ROUTE TO ASIA Chapter 2: Expansion of Trade. Around the year 1300, many countries wished to get to Asia They travelled a route called the “Silk Road”

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Presentation on theme: "THE ROUTE TO ASIA Chapter 2: Expansion of Trade. Around the year 1300, many countries wished to get to Asia They travelled a route called the “Silk Road”"— Presentation transcript:

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Around the year 1300, many countries wished to get to Asia They travelled a route called the “Silk Road” – a name given to routes that connected the Mediterranean (Italy, etc.) to the Pacific Ocean (China, etc.) (p.40) Intercultural contact led to the exchange of ideas and knowledge

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Not very many Europeans were able to make this journey. Marco Polo was one of them Trade between these two cultures was only possible because of a war centuries before between Muslims and Christians called the “Crusades” Three separate (yet connected) religions considered one part of the world – “Palestine” – the “Holy Land” (it was were Jesus, Muhammad, and Jewish Prophets lived)

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Read the “Zoom In” Section on page 41 out loud…volunteer? Discuss the questions to the side as a class

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2 Results of the Crusades for Europeans… 1. Close contact with the Muslim religion 2. Trade with new cultures At the time, the Muslim world was more advanced than Europe Europeans began to learn new ideas about medicine, astronomy, philosophy, math, and ancient literature Muslims welcomed the knowledge of Europeans

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As a result of this cultural contact, Europeans discovered new goods (oil, spices, new food such as various fruits) that were not available in Europe They also found goods such as jewels, rugs, silk, and satin – luxuries for Europeans The most important: spices – pepper was worth it’s weight in gold!! They wanted more: trade began between Europe and the “East”

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The Great “City-States” At this time, the cities of Europe were not part of one country. They were more like separate kingdoms, ruled by monarchs (royalty) City-state: a city which is politically independent of the cities around it. Hinterland: rural area (farms/forests) around a city-state

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Successful City-States: “geography” comes from the Greek words “Earth” and “writing” City-states in Italy prospered because of some key factors: 1. Geography: Italy was central – close to various other countries in the Mediterranean, as well as directly in the middle of the Silk Road 2. Climate: the weather is very mild; winters weren’t cold= easy travelling + long growing season (Italy was, and is, famous for it’s olives used for cooking oil, and grapes used for wine)

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3. Leadership: since most cities were ruled by separate monarchs, they had their own government, armies, economy, etc. – they could each spend their money as they wanted 4. Social Organization: a. Wealthy nobles constantly moved into new city states, and brought their wealth with them b. Since most of the people in Italy were wealthy, Feudalism wasn’t very strong

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Merchants Merchants were people who bought goods in one place (where they weren’t available), and sold them for a higher price somewhere else. They also bought resources which people needed to make their products (ex: wool, wheat)